An exercise mimetic is a drug that mimics some of the biological effects of physical exercise. Exercise is known to have an effect in preventing, treating, or ameliorating the effects of a variety of serious illnesses, including cancer, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and psychiatric and neurological diseases such as Alzheimer's disease. As of 2021, no drug is known to have the same benefits.[1]
Known biological targets affected by exercise have also been targets of drug discovery, with limited results. These known targets include:
| Targets | Drug candidates | |
|---|---|---|
| 5-aminoimidazole-4-carboxamide ribonucleotide | ||
| peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor delta | ||
| PPAR gamma coactivator 1-alpha[2] | ||
| estrogen-related receptor γ/α | GSK4716[3] SLU-PP-332 | |
| Canonical transient receptor potential (TRPC) proteins[4] | ||
| myostatin inhibitors[5] |
The majority of the effect of exercise in reducing cardiovascular and all-cause mortality cannot be explained via improvements in quantifiable risk factors, such as blood cholesterol. This further increases the challenge of developing an effective exercise mimetic. Moreover, even if a broad spectrum exercise mimetic were invented, it is not necessarily the case that its public health effects would be superior to interventions to increase exercise in the population.